Re: Duhvelopers and DB-ehs?

>From: "Don Granaman" <granaman_at_home.com>>Reply-To: ORACLE-L_at_fatcity.com>To: Multiple recipients of list ORACLE-L <ORACLE-L_at_fatcity.com>>Subject: Re: Duhvelopers and DB-ehs?>Date: Fri, 31 Aug 2001 17:26:24 -0800>>RE: Duhvelopers and DB-ehs?OK. I've resisted the temptation so far, but >(puffing out chest)...>>In one job in my distant past, at a turnkey software/systems shop, four >(initially two) of us used to administer about half a dozen in house Oracle >servers and remotely administer about 2-3 dozen of our clients' database >servers. They were scattered all over the US and Canada and we all did >database and Unix systems administration "part time". About 80% of our >time was spent in custom software/systems design and development. >Everybody got Oracle DBA training, but nobody was a full-time DBA or >systems administrator. (A very novel approach that resulted in very few >deeply imbedded application performance issues!)>>From late 1997 until mid-1999 I administered up to about 45 Oracle >databases (each was 10-200 GB & OLTP) by myself - including >design/modeling, code reviews and tuning, physical server configuration >(sizing systems, creating raw devices, etc.), and production database >administration. I was the only Oracle DBA in the entire company for my >first 18 months there! We actually had about 12 distinct Oracle-based >application systems, most with distinct dev, functional test, performance >test, and production databases. These were spread over more than 40 Sun >servers ranging from Ultra 2s to E10Ks. Three of the production systems >were on Sun PDB cluster and Oracle parallel server. Critical? At least >four were the core components of the trading systems at one of the world's >largest online brokerages - serious 24 x forever with (usually) million+ >dollar costs for any downtime.>>Actually the number was about 24 databases until Jan 1999. At that time, >they gave me some help - the guy who was the (only) DBA for the Informix >system (which was phased out the following Fall) - to retrain as an Oracle >DBA. Two weeks later I was asked to create 21 new databases on 17 new >servers - within nine days. I made it with a little under an hour to >spare. That brought the total up to about 45. By August, the ex-Informix >DBA was doing Oracle full time and they had hired some more help (all with >no significant Oracle experience!) - and, of course, added another 20-30 >databases! When I left a couple of months ago (no surprise is it?) we had >42 production Oracle databases on 35 production servers, with a total of >over 160 databases on over 120 servers, administered by 6 DBAs. We also >had over 100 other servers (Web servers, WebLogic servers, Tuxedo servers, >etc.) that had the Oracle client (including Pro*C)installed - which we also >maintained.>>Of course I was working an average of about 95 hours/week much of that >time... And sleeping less than half that.>>For none of these did I ever have any significant 3rd party tools (BMC >Patrol, etc.). I did develop a *LOT* of homegrown scripts and automation >though. [I still prefer, with a very few select exceptions, homegrown tools >over commercial tools.] The other key was in *ADAMANTLY INSISTING* on >being able to set things up "right" at the start. Having enough space on >(at least most) test systems to load (or clone) production-sized databases >helped also.>>This sounds kinda like "When I was a kid, we had to walk five miles to >school in neck-deep snow - uphill both ways!" doesn't it? Unfortunately, >its true. I have references and the complete lack of an outside life to >prove it! Since I left, I've been decompressing and going through social >rehabilitation ["Hi, my name is Don. I haven't been on a bridge call in >over two months." (Smattering of applause...)]>>-Don Granaman>[certifiable OraSaurus and shameless braggart]>>PS: Most of, and certainly the best of, the DBA's I've ever worked with >had significant prior experience as developers (not "duhvelopers").> ----- Original Message -----> From: Weaver, Walt> To: Multiple recipients of list ORACLE-L> Sent: Friday, August 31, 2001 12:18 PM> Subject: RE: Duhvelopers and DB-ehs?>>> Yeah, well, in a previous life I was in charge of 27 databases on 9 >servers ALL BY MYSELF. Didn't have anybody working with me, man. Zilch. >Nada.>> And, of course, I'm not going to talk about the nature of the systems >'cause then it wouldn't sound so impressive....>> --Walt Weaver> Bozeman, Montana> -----Original Message-----> From: Mohan, Ross [mailto:MohanR_at_stars-smi.com]> Sent: Friday, August 31, 2001 10:38 AM> To: Multiple recipients of list ORACLE-L> Subject: RE: Duhvelopers and DB-ehs?>>> We do about the same number with 6 DBAs...>> (not that that means sh*t without talking about the nature of the >systems, of course)

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